NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday successfully test-fired the indigenous Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) ‘Astra’, equipped with an indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, from a Su-30 MKI platform off the coast of Odisha.
Astra has a range exceeding 100 km and is equipped with a state-of-the-art guidance and navigation system. The term beyond visual range refers to the capability to engage targets beyond the direct line of sight.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD), in its statement, said, "During the tests, two launches were carried out against high-speed unmanned aerial targets at different ranges, target aspects and launch platform conditions. In both the cases, the missiles destroyed the targets with pin-point accuracy."
During the tests, all subsystems performed as expected, including the RF seeker, which has been indigenously designed and developed by the DRDO. The flawless performance of the Astra weapon system was validated through flight data captured by range tracking instruments deployed by the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur.
According to the MoD, the successful flight tests reaffirmed the accuracy and reliability of the Astra weapon system with the indigenous seeker. In addition to various DRDO laboratories, more than 50 public and private sector industries — including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited — contributed to the successful realisation of the weapon system.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh complimented the DRDO, IAF and industry partners involved in the design and development of the RF seeker, and stated that the successful testing of the missile with an indigenous seeker is a major milestone in critical defence technology.
Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO, Dr Samir V Kamat, congratulated all the teams involved in the successful flight-test.